RAWNSK PUST
#festival #customs #masks #carnival
In the remote hill villages on the border with Italy, a hundred-year-old custom called Rawnsk’ Pust is performed every year for a week before the carnival. It represents a pagan wedding, as they used to marry during the carnival season. In the villages of Drežniške Ravne, Jezerac and Magozd, the tradition is carried on by young boys who can join the bachelor party when they turn 18 and stay there until they get married.
The procession goes from house to house, where they are received and served by the locals, because if you don’t let them into the house, it supposedly brings bad luck. “The Beautiful One” dances in thanks, drinks brandy and moves on. Meanwhile, “The Ugly One” is hunting children outside the village. If they are caught, they are thoroughly beaten with an ash sock so that when they leave, they are all gray. Howeaver, this does not bother them, on the contrary, they can’t wait to be a part of the holiday that the villagers look forward to all year.
.jpg)
On the eve of the carnival in Drežniške Ravne, quite a few lights do not go out until the morning, when the procession begins.
Villagers in Drežniške Ravne, Jezerci and Magozd have been expecting the procession since early morning.
Even before dawn, the procession sets off on an arduous journey through the surrounding villages.
One does not set out on the road without musical accompaniment.
At the door The one who leads negotiates entry into the house with the master.
Pustni plaz prihrumi v vsako hišo. Le domačije, kjer je v preteklem letu kosila smrt, se izognejo, razen če jim vaščani vseeno ne odprejo vrat.
The group is in a better mood after each house visited. And they are to visit as many as 67 homesteads.
While the Beautiful ones are frolicking in the houses, the Ugly ones are stalking the village youth outside.
If child is caught by The ugly, he is taken to the village square, where a very special ceremony awaits him.
The village youth sacrifice willingly as part of the tradition. When the Ugly Ones hunt them all day and sometimes beat them fairly with a sock full of ashes, so that the gray cloud does not dissipate for a long time.
When the happy group ends the procession, the organization's thoughts are already on the following year's.